Rare books from Paul Foster Books

Ernest Nister. London. Printed in Nuremberg. ND. 1888. FIRST, AND ONLY, PRINTING OF THIS EDITION. Folio. (15 x 11.7 inches). Illustrated with six stunning full colour chromolithographic plates and twenty-seven sepia vignettes throughout the text. The artist is Julius Höppner, a master of fairy and fantasy illustration. Original white cloth with elaborate full gilt decoration to spine and front board, which also has a sunken panel, with a bevelled gilt tooled edge, where a full colour illustration is placed. Silk patterned paper endpapers. All edges gilt. Binding a bit loose. The board edges are rubbed and marked & there is some minor foxing to most pages but overall this is a near to very good copy of a truly beautiful book.

Philip Lee Warner, Publisher to the Medici Society, for the Riccardi Press, London. 1914. LIMITED EDITION. Large 8vo. (9.3 x 6.6 inches). One of 1000 hand-numbered copies printed in the Riccardi Fount on handmade Riccardi Paper. Fine leather binding of recent full deep red morocco. Spine with five raised bands, ruled in gilt. Compartments ruled, lettered and decorated with March Hare and Playing cards motifs in gilt, with floral gilt surrounds. Ruled gilt border on boards. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. A bright and clean copy of this lovely edition, beautifully printed on fine quality hand made paper and in a decorative leather binding. ----- This edition was published by arrangement with Macmillan and Company using Carroll's revised text of 1896. The wonderful Tenniel illustrations are printed from fresh electros taken from the original wood-blocks, with four being slightly enlarged from the original block designs.

Macmillan & Co. London. 1984. TWO VOLUMES. FACSIMILE EDITIONS. 8vo, (7.4 x 5.2 inches). Both volumes Illustrated throughout, with forty and fifty line engravings respectively, by John Tenniel. First printings of these facsimile editions of the original first editions of 1866 and 1872. Bound in publishers delux leather bindings of full deep red morocco, reproducing the original bindings. Triple gilt ruled borders on boards and circular illustrations to the centre of the panels. Spines with ruled lines to the top and bottom and lettering, all in gilt. Black coated endpapers. All edges gilt. Aside from a tiny rub to the top of the spine on Through the Looking glass these are in fine condition. Macmillan issued these two facsimile editions in 1984 in cloth bindings and these much scarcer leather versions.

Privately printed. Oxford. 1876. FIRST EDITION, first issue. Single sheet, folded to make four, sixteenmo pages. Neat repair to a split to the entire length of the hinge. Small hole to the top margin of the front panel. A couple of small rust marks, probably from a paper clip, to the front. A couple of small creases. Overall just a good copy of this scarce item. ----- Williams, Madan & Green. The lewis carroll handbook. Number 116; printed on paper watermarked "E. Towgood Fine," , "my" in Roman type face on line 12 of page three and freestanding 'To' on front title. "It appears to have been privately printed by Lewis Carroll for distribution among his many young friends." [W, M & G p. 88].

Longmans, Green, and Co. London. 1885. FIRST EDITION. 1st printing. Small 8vo. (6.5 x 4.5 inches). One small area of loss (finger nail sized) to the bottom inner margin of one page, well away from the printed text, and a few finger marks but otherwise a very good copy. Finely bound in recent full dark blue morocco leather. Spine with raised bands. Compartments ruled and decorated in gilt. Twin red labels, gilt. Single gilt ruled border to both boards. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. An attractive copy of this charming book.

Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. London. No Date. circa 1922. EARLY EDITION, with extra colour plate. 8vo. (7.5 x 6 inches). Complete, and with one more illustration than the original 1911 edition. Full colour illustrated frontispiece mounted onto grey art paper and with a tissue guard, decorative mono title page and twelve full page mono plates by Bedford. Internally this is a very good, bright and clean copy, in an attractive early half leather binding by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, of London, for E. P. Dutton & Company, New York. Half dark green calf. Spine with raised bands, each with gilt piping. Compartments fully decorated and ruled in gilt. Twin burgundy labels, ruled, decorated and lettered in gilt. Marbled paper on boards. Top edge gilt. Marbled endpapers. Off white silk bookmark. Rubbing to the outer layer of the leather on the binding edges, particularly the hinge on the lower board, but both hinges still firm and strong and still an attractive binding. A good looking copy of this classic title,… Read More

Victor Gollancz Limited. London. 1938. FIRST EDITION. 1st printing. 8vo. (7.9 x 5.4 inches). Some very minor browning to the page edges, as is common with the cheap paper used in this book, and a couple of pages with a crease to the outer corner of the page, otherwise a very good copy finely bound in recent full black morocco, spine with five raised bands, the compartments lettered, ruled and decorated in gilt. Top edge gilt.

Longmans, Green and Co. London. 1889. FIRST EDITION, first impression. 8vo. (7.3 x 5.1 inches). viii, 390pp, 16pp publishers adverts at end dated August 1889. Illustrated with 8 full page mono plates and scores of smaller illustrations throughout the text by Ford, G. P. Jacomb-Hood and Lancelot Speed. Publishers decorated dark blue cloth binding with gilt illustration to the front board and spine, which is also lettered in gilt. The book has been professionally re-cased and has new plain white endpapers. All edges gilt. Some marks and spots to a few pages but overall this is a very good copy internally with the binding showing some wear and minor chipping to the extremities, particularly the top of the spine. Overall a near to very good copy of the first of Lang's colour Fairy books.

Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. London. 1811. FIRST SCOTT EDITION. Six volumes. 8vo. (7.4 x 4.8 inches). Illustrated with six full page copper engraved frontipieces, after paintings by Robert Smirke, which were originally published in Edward Forster's translation of this work in 1802. The plates were specially re-engraved by J. Fittler, C. Warren, A. Raimbach (x2), A. Smith, and R. Golding for this new translation. Some foxing to the frontispiece illustrations and, very much lighter, to just the first couple of leaves of each volume otherwise a clean, bright set in fine early nineteenth century leather bindings of full burgundy straight grained Morocco. Spines with raised bands, each with gilt piping. Compartments ruled, lettered and decorated in gilt. Boards with triple ruled and elaborate decorative borders. Gilt floral roll on the turn-ins. Board edges with decorative gilt tooling to the corners. Plain brown endpapers. All edges gilt. Red silk page markers still present in each volume.… Read More

Macmillan and Co. Ltd. London. 1911. Reprint of the 1899 Golden Treasury edition. Small 8vo. (6.1 x 4.1 inches). Finely bound, by Riviere and Son, in beautiful early full dark green morocco, extra gilt. The spine with raised bands, dotted in gilt. Compartments ruled, decorated and lettered in gilt, including floral centre pieces. Elaborate floral centre design to boards with gilt tooling over beige leather onlays. Inner Dentelles with ruled and dotted border lines and decorated flowers in the corners, all in gilt surrounding green Moire silk centre pieces. Silk endpapers. All edges gilt. A couple of small dents to the spine and corners. Some creasing to the very edges of one of the blank paper endpapers but otherwise the pages are clean and bright throughout and this is a beautiful copy.

Macmillan and Co. Limited. London. 1898. FIRST SIXPENNY EDITIONS. 8vo. (8.4 x 6 inches). Both volumes are the first printings of the Macmillan sixpenny series. Illustrated with forty two and fifty line illustrations, respectively, by John Tenniel. Publishers original red printed paper wraps. Page edges a bit chipped, as to be expected with the cheap paper used in production, and a little toned but overall these are very good internally. The front paper wraps for both volumes and only the rear for Alice are present. Both paper spines have perished. Ink stamp of previous owner to the front wrapper of each volume. While not the most attractive example, these two First printings of the sixpenny series are a rare survivor with their original fragile wraps and not in too bad condition for 1898 paperback Children's books.

Macmillan and Co. Limited. London. 1894. The Peoples edition. Twenty-third thousand. 8vo. (7.3 x 4.9 inches). Illustrated with fifty line illustrations by John Tenniel. Some foxing to the plain tissue paper guard over the frontispiece and a few minor spots throughout but overall a very clean and bright copy in a fine late 19th century leather binding. Full red calf, the spine with five raised bands, each with double rope design in gilt. Compartments ruled and fully decorated in gilt. Dark green morocco title label, gilt. Leaf and rose roll gilt borders on boards. Decorative gilt design on board edges. Decorative blind stamped inner dentelles. Marbled endpapers. All edges marbled. Red silk page marker bound in. Grantham School arms stamped on the front board in gilt. Previous owners neat name stamp to top of the first leaf after title page. Aside from a small area of loss to the leather on the front board and another on the lower spine hinge this is a very good copy in a fine quality leather binding.… Read More

Hodder and Stoughton. London. 1911. THIRD EDITION. - October 1911, issued the same month as the first printing, and the same format. Large 8vo, (8 x 5.8 inches). Complete with mono illustrated title and twelve full page plates by Bedford. Gilt decorated green cloth boards illustrated with Peter Pan, two Mermaids and the Crocodile, all within a decorative border, on front board. Spine with lettering and illustration including Captain Hook, Peter Pan, two Mermaids and some Fairies, all stamped in gilt. Cloth and gilt are very bright and vibrant on the spine and front board. A remarkable, tight and fresh copy with a small neat previous owner name to the front free endpaper and a tiny amount of foxing to just a handful of pages. The endpapers have some offsetting as a result of the glue used in production otherwise this is a near fine and bright copy of this classic book in the rare publishers original dustwrapper. The wrapper reproduces the front board and spine of the book in gold onto dark green paper.… Read More

J. M. Dent & Sons Limited. London. 1919. TWENTY FOUR FINE FULL COLOUR PLATES BY DETMOLD. Each mounted onto card with a printed border and protected with a tissue guard. The title of each picture printed on the guard in brown ink. The colour plates measure 14.9 x 9.6 inches. The card mounts measure 20 x 15 inches. They are housed in the original publishers portfolio with printed title and publication details to front panel. Spine and board corners in beige cloth. Cloth ties to top edge missing but the original ties to the fore and bottom edges are intact. Printed label on inside of front board with the limitation details and numbered and signed by Detmold. This is copy number 204 of only 500 sets produced. The illustrations are held in place with brown card fold-overs to the top and bottom, the fold over at the fore edge is missing. Overall a very good set of these beautiful plates. It is rare to find a complete set of all 24 plates still in the original publishers portfolio, many having been framed to… Read More

Random House. New York. 1930. FIRST TRADE ROCKWELL KENT EDITION. 8vo. (7.4 x 5.8 inches). Illustrated by Rockwell Kent with woodcuts throughout the text, with full-page plates, chapter head- and tailpieces, other smaller cuts in the text. Finely bound in recent full black morocco, spine with five raised bands. Red title label. The compartments ruled, decorated and lettered in gilt. Single ruled gilt border on boards. Top edge gilt. Published in the same year by the Lakeside Press of Chicago in a large format, three-volume, limited edition, this trade edition proved immensely popular. It has been credited with contributing greatly to the rediscovery of Moby Dick as a classic. A fine copy.